Fancy Footwork
by Traci Miller
Summary: Renji helps Ichigo feel included at a party...


Fancy Footwork

By: Vamprina

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters/merchandise. I am not gaining any profit or reward for this fanfiction or its distribution. I am not in any way connected or affiliated with any of the copyright(s) holder(s), owner(s), creator(s) or affiliate(s) of Bleach or its characters/merchandise for any reason. Nor am I affiliated with anyone who is or may be affiliated with the aforementioned people.

Warning: Language, humor, possible OOC, shounen ai

Prompt set: Indigo

Prompt: 02, Ballroom Dancing

Date: 3/3/08

Word Count: 1259

A/N: As you may have noticed, it's been a while since I have put out a fic. Not a long time, but enough to make me a slight bit rusty...or perhaps a lot rusty depending upon the responses this gets. :p I may end up rewriting this if it needs it badly enough.

Ichigo and Renji had long since forgotten about the rest of the party. Usually, the gigai was very uncomfortable for the tall redhead but right now at this party one of the shorter Shinigami's friends had thrown.

Truth be told he had only come because Ichigo had hinted around that there would be alcohol. He had been hoping for sake. He was not happy to find wine coolers in it's stead. How sneaky! And for most of the party, he had been convinced the ryoka boy was hiding a smirk due to his amusement at having tricked the disguised soul.

At first he had not understood why it was so important for the young human boy to have him at the party, too. But, then he had realized why. It had sort of made him feel sorry for the kid, but he pushed that emotion away immediately. He knew Ichigo didn't need anybody feeling sorry for him. Hell, the kid emo-ed about stuff enough as it was, he didn't need anybody else's help in that area.

But, the only people who seemed to be trying to include Ichigo into anything were Inoue and that weird dude that Renji had kicked on his first day meeting Ichigo's ryoka friends. The ones that hadn't barging into Soul Society to save Rukia.

And...well, Ichigo looked so out of place. It was no wonder he wanted somebody else around. Keigo was just annoying, but he was the one throwing the party so he was allowed to be annoying. The music was loud and frankly even Renji was amazed the neighbors hadn't called the cops or whatever the ryoka law enforcement was called.

Still, even as annoying as the orange-haired teen usually was and even as often as they got into arguments...that admittedly he started at times just to have an excuse to get close to Ichigo, he couldn't stand it when the boy looked just...so out of place! So, he had done the only thing he could do. He got Ichigo to dance with him by issuing a challenge.

It was true that Renji was the last person somebody would figure knew how to dance in any ballroom fashion. But, he wasn't used to the bump-and-grind sort of dancing that they did here. It was probably very easy to do, but it looked an awful lot like having sex and he didn't know if his rep or Ichigo's rep would ever be the same again if they were seen at a party by ANY of their mutual friends or acquaintances bumping and grinding up against each other's hips and bodies. That would just be too much. And, besides, Renji was more confident with ballroom dancing as it more common at functions he usually attended. Such as anything hosted by Kuchiki-taichou.

But, he had found out that Ichigo knew many types of ballroom dancing through forced lessons by the insistence of his father. He had undoubtedly thought Inoue wouldn't mention it. But, she'd let it slip one day when she was babbling about something or other. He didn't know how anybody kept track of the, admittedly sweet, girl's babbling.

And given the challenge that the young Shinigami representative could not possibly out-dance Abarai Renji when it came to ballroom dancing. He had been counting on the fact that no matter how outrageous or stupid the challenge was, the gorgeous strawberry had not yet turned a single one down that had been issued thus far in the relatively short time they had known each other.

He was right, too. The tall redhead could only grin when Ichigo had angrily accepted th challenge, acting affronted at the mere thought that Renji would think he could outdo the shorter ryoka teen at ANYthing, especially dancing!

So, that was exactly what had started this incident now. Although, he was distinctly sure that Ichigo no longer remembered any kind of challenge, considering the way he was looking at Renji as he danced.

He was always so concerned of stepping a foot out of the confines of his reputation in the Living World and yet right now Renji was positive that the young ryoka didn't even truly remember anybody else was here, that the music didn't match the steps in their waltz or that everyone else had stopped dancing, and for the most part, screaming and laughing with each other, to watch the two redheads dance.

Keigo was even quiet and truly he hadn't ever put much stock into ballroom dancing. It was old, outdated, and didn't look like much fun what with all the steps a person had to memorize just so that you didn't step on your partner's toes. But...when you looked at the way those two were waltzing, Keigo forgot all about the fact that neither Renji or Ichigo were luscious women with big breasts and that it was sort of odd to see that expression on Kurosaki's face...it was just so...well, he didn't know what! But, it was a good thing and it left even him speechless!

They both stared at each other in a way that Inoue had only seen in the movies between actors and actresses that had extremely good chemistry with each other. She sighed happily and smiled, before glomping onto Ishida unexpectedly.

Ishida's eyes went a bit wide for a moment before he straightened up again and pushed his glasses up into place once more. "What is it, Inoue-san?" he asked.

"Isn't it so beautiful the way they look at each other? And the way they dance? It's just like in those old movies I watch sometimes late at night, do you remember those that we rented to watch the other day when I was lonely because Tatsuki was gone to visit a relative in Tokyo and you were nice enough to spend time with me?" She asked, before continuing the second Ishida was about to actually answer her.

He sighed and looked over at Abarai and Kurosaki. Sure, he supposed they had a certain...look about them. Ishida, for one, thought it was about damn time. Those two had been beating around the proverbial bush with each other for long enough. And Ishida had been about damn tired of it.

Sado was just quietly watching. His usual stoic expression was still there, except for the tiniest tug of a smile at the right side of his mouth that only someone who knew him very well would have noticed. He had never seen Ichigo look happy like that. He'd seen him looking smug and he'd seen him pretending to look happy. But, this was real. It may not have been ridiculously obvious, but it was still happiness. Sado could tell the difference between the moods that crossed Ichigo's face at times.

However, it was Ganju who had not only crashed the party but had been raiding Keigo's fridge since around twenty minutes before the two had begun dancing who broke the awe-struck silence. Well, with the exception of Inoue still rambling.

"Oi, why're they dancin like that?" he asked, loudly, through a mouthful of food even as he began to stuff part of a sandwich into his mouth.

Everyone close by Ganju glared at him and used various paper products to smack him over the head with when the two men blushed and stepped away from each other having finally realized that the ballroom dancing wasn't the only reason they were being stared at so quietly and intently.

Owari

A/N 2: I am aware this is no longer a drabble. Oops?


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